We sometimes read into the Biblical text ideas which Jesus or the Biblical writer did not intend. Jesus says it is only with difficulty that a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of God. He did not say that it is totally impossible. Let us face reality: it is only with a certain amount of difficulty that any of us can enter into the Kingdom of God, as Jesus himself elsewhere warned us: "It is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life and only a few find it" (Mt 7:14).

Jesus speaks in this way to challenge us and to form us in the truth. If we take this saying in isolation, we may feel that Jesus is threatening us, but we must interpret Scripture through the fullness of Scripture and revelation: "For God all things are possible." We may add that God's possibilities are the possibilities of eternal, merciful, forgiving and salvific love.

We may apply Jesus' saying about the rich man to ourselves by considering "riches" as any kind of hindrance.

We are all very limited creatures, limited in our self-awareness and limited in our ability or willingness to put aside definitively those things which come between us and God.